


All those things I didn't know I missed

by Heartithateyou



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Fluff and Angst, Happy Ending, M/M, SUCH FLUFF, Temporary Amnesia
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-27
Updated: 2014-08-27
Packaged: 2018-02-15 01:57:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,870
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2211426
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Heartithateyou/pseuds/Heartithateyou
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tony wakes up with a concussion and forgetting the last three years. The last he remembers is dating Pepper and now a gorgeous Capsicle is saying not only are they dating, they're married.</p>
            </blockquote>





	All those things I didn't know I missed

"Tony" He hears a voice whisper somewhere in the darkness. 

His whole body feels heavy, groggy. He tries to open his eyes but they feel like weights against his skull.

"Tony" The voice comes again, this time a little more desperately.

He's finally able to wrench his eyes open a bit, blinking a bit at the rush of light that meets his eyes. After a moment, his eyes begin to adjust and he starts to take in his surroundings, the machines around him, dull surrounding, concerned blond at his side, anxiously leaning forward.

"Nuh?" He manages to mutter out, his mouth unbelievably dry. Fuck, he better not be in here for alcohol poisioning, Pepper would have his balls this time for sure.

"Shh try not to talk." The blond says, holding his hand reassuringly. "Tony, you were in an accident. You were in a fight and your suit failed and you sort of... you sort of crashed. Oh Tony, we were all so scared you weren't going to make it, I was so scared. The doctors, they weren't sure-"

"Captain America!" He suddenly shouts, realizing where he recognizes the blond from. That's it, all of his dad's old footage. And they teamed up that one time, right? That parts a bit blurrier, but he thinks they did.

"Yeah, Tony, its me, the doctors said you'd be a bit groggy for a while, you were pretty doped up. Gosh, you have no idea how happy I am to see you awake, I was so scared." Cap says, something in his eyes he can't make out.

"Does Pepper know?" He asks suddenly, she'd kick his ass concussion or not if he was in the hospital and she didn't know.

A startled look comes across Cap's face. "Um yeah, yeah she knows, the whole team does. She's just outside now, did you... did you want to see her?"

"Yeah, I think I'd like to see my girlfriend now, Capsicle." He says, attempting a smirk against whatever cocktail of drugs they'd given him.

"Tony...." Steve says, looking at him like he was trying to figure out a puzzle. "Tony, Pepper isn't your girlfriend anymore..."

Now it was his turn to be confused. Not his girlfriend anymore? What did that mean?

Suddenly he looks down and spies the silver ring on his left ring finger. Huh, more subtle than he would have picked.

"Of course, right." He says, noting Steve sigh a breath of relief. "She's my wife." He says as he holds up his left hand, noting the subtle gleam that shines from the ring when it hits the light. Actually, that's quite nice.

And suddenly, Steve's face all but crumbles, before he half shouts "Pepper!" with a strange choking sound in his voice.

And there she is, gorgeous reliable Pepper, although he has to admit, the florouscent lighting isn't doing anything for her skin.

"Pepper, my lovely lovely wife!" He shouts, maybe a bit louder than he meant, but that was probably the morphine talking.

Quickly, she looks from him to Steve back to him. "Tony..." Is all she manages to get out.

"Okay, in all fairness, last thing thing I remember was us just dating, so you'll have to fill me in on the rest. Like the wedding. And how did I propose? Was it romantic? Or more my style?" He asks, feeling a bit excited about hearing this.

"Tony... you didn't propose to me." Pepper stutters, her face still remaining neutral.

"Oh... you proposed to me? Well you never put up with my bullshit, not surprised you took control of the situation." He says, attempting a smile, but the vibe in the room is just so off, he can't help but feel like he's missing out on something. A big something. Were they divorced already too.

"Tony...." Steve says quietly, his head between his hands, staring at the cracked hospital floor. "What she means is I was the one who proposed to you. Two years ago. We just celebrated our one year anniversary a week ago." His voice gradually gets quieter and quieter, his last word barely above a whisper.

Apparently the big thing he was missing was three years of his life.

"Can everyone... can everyone just go?" He whispers, staring at the blanket to avoid any more of their expressions. 

"Tony..." Pepper says quietly, her face most likely in an expression of concern and sadness.

"Just go Pepper!" He says a bit louder than he means too, jerking slightly away from her. The last thing he needed was dealing with them when he could barely deal with himself.

Finally, he hears them both shuffle out of the room and suddenly the silence engulfs him.

Three years.

Three years gone.

He tries desperately to remember, he remembers Fury coming to him, Coulson visiting at the tower, something about fighting in the woods, meeting Bruce, fighting with someone, a teammate he thinks, flying around New York with a battle going on... and then blank.

There's nothing.

There's a void of nothing.

And apparently this void consists of him and Pepper ending, somehow him getting in on with Captain America, and even less likely the two of them getting hitched. How the hell did that happen? How?

Luckily, a very kind nurse comes in and puts something into his IV that makes him fall asleep before he can question it further.

When he wakes up the next morning, he hopes for one futile moment his memory will have returned. Just like that.

But there's still the void.

As far as he's concerned, he and Pepper are still in love, still living together, and blondie is some guy he barely remembers meeting.

As if on command, tall and blond walks in with a hopeful look on his face and flowers in his arms.

Something about the flowers, its like a spark in his brain, a flash of something, gone before he can even figure out what it is.

"Why Captain, I'm really not that kind of girl." He says with a smirk.

And in an instant, his face falls. "So you didn't get your memory back then?" 

"How did you..." He says, watching as Cap carefully sets the flowers on the dresser opposite him.

"That's how..." He says, sounding defeated. "That's how you used to sound when we first met."

"Listen, Cap-"

"Steve." Cap says sternly, not even meeting his eye.

"What?" What the hell did it matter?

"You haven't called me Cap in over two years. Not since we first started dating. I told you how much it bothered me, how it made me feel like you wanted to be with the figure, not the man, and you promised to never call me that again. You promised." He says in a whisper.

Now its his turn to be quiet, his mind churning. Whatever he had with blondie, sorry Steeeeve, apparently it was something serious. And... it was probably really nice.

"Why did me and Pepper break up?" He asks, desperate to change the subject from him and Ca- Steve.

"It was after New York. Do you remember flying the nuke into the abyss?" Tony has to nod 'no', he can vaguely imagine it but not remember it. "Well after you did, which was sort of my fault, but you forgave me for that, anyway after you did you started having really bad nightmares. More like night terrors. Pepper tried to help, but you sort of isolated yourself. Eventually you guys decided you'd both be better as friends. And then all the avengers moved into the tower."

"How did I get better?" He asks in a whisper, his eyes focused on the blanket. Even though he didn't remember any of this, he could imagine it. He knew how he could get, how Pepper could be. It wasn't that hard to understand.

"Tony..." Steve trails off, a pleading look in his eyes.

"How, Steve." He asks, even though his heart sort of told him this would hurt like hell. 

"JARVIS started letting me know when you were having your nightmares, your panic attacks. I would wake you up... and I would stay with you. No matter how many times you yelled at me or cursed at me or told me to leave, I stayed. And eventually, you let me. And then you wanted me to." He says, tears forming in his eyes. "And then you asked me to stay. And not just for the bad times. You wanted me there just.... just because you wanted me. And you said you felt safe with me. And that you made your nightmares go away and you could sleep again. And then you said that you never wanted me to leave because you couldn't imagine a night without me. Because you loved me." At this point, he's all out crying, remembering everything he couldn't.

"Steve, I'm so sorry..." He had no idea what else to say, what do you say to a man whose lost the love of his life even when he's sitting right in front of him.

"You have no idea what it means to have lost you." Steve chokes out between sobs.

And what can he say to that, he can't. And maybe he never will.

"I should... I should go. I'll tell Pepper to come visit later." Steve murmurs, desperately trying to dry the tears streaming down his face. He's nearly at the door when he suddenly stops and turns and looks at the flowers.

Tony can't help but look at them too.

They're lovely, white roses mixed with other rustic plants he doesn't even know the name for.

Without warning, Steve grabs them and slowly hands them to Tony. Before he can even think for a second, he's reaching out to grab them. 

Now that they're within arms reach, he can smell them, the delicate rose smell, that woodsy aroma he should hate because it smells like the outdoors instead of the oil and grease he prefers, somehow the flowers smell wild, like some field they were grown in instead of some cheap greenhouse.

That smell...

"Just... just because you proposed Steve, that doesn't make me the bride. So the bouquet is just unnecessary. Gorgeous, but unnecessary. And you were the one who wanted to go with simple-" He cuts off by the other man's lips crashing into his, Steve's lips, his Steve, only his.

"Tony..." Steve whispers, pulling back slightly to look into his eyes, hands still firmly grasped onto his face as though he's scared to lose him again.

"Steve..." He whispers back. And he feels the bits and pieces coming back, looking into those blue eyes. A memory of hands holding, one of them making breakfast, one of moans and pants. Memories falling together, suddenly, his heart remembering all of those things he hadn't known he missed.  
"Steve, fuck Steve, I love you so much, I'm so sorry-"

"Don't apologize, it wasn't your fault, I was scared, so scared, I thought I had lost you-"

"Shh, I always come back to you." He said before crashing into Steve's lips, where all he could feel was home.

And that was the last either of them spoke for a long while.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading!  
> Feel free to leave comments!  
> (And yes, I know this isn't how amnesia works)


End file.
